The instrument is a two manual/three rank (8/8/4) design with cabinetry closely styled to resemble a 1750 Kirckman English harpsichord. The sound resembles existing Kirckmans (easily found on recordings), but the mechanics are custom and modern. The long string length of the instrument produces a warm resonant tone with long reverberation.

I captured every note from the F1-F6 61-note range for seven manual/registration combinations:

– Lower Manual- Upper Manual (slightly more nasal quality)
– Upper Manual with the regular and Nasat plectras for a strong nasal quality
– Upper Manual with the Nasat plectra only for a softer nasal quality
– Lower Manual + 4′ Stop
– Lower Manual coupled to the Upper Manual + 4′ Stop (full instrument)
– Lower Manual with Buff stop (leather mutes applied to each string for a lute-like sound)

My goal was to capture all the quirks and mechanical noises that are different for every key press and delightful release, and for every manual/registration combination due to the hand-built design.

Contributors

dknisely

The samples were captured with two close ribbon mics in a roughly Blumlein pattern to hopefully provide some image of the bass vs. treble strings, along with a pair of cardioid mics in an ORTF configuration about one foot away from the open lid.  They were mixed about 60/40 in favor of the richer ribbons. The samples were processed with a moderate EQ to high-pass the bass boominess and balance the mid-frequencies with the upper, and a small amount of reverb.  Even though the samples seemed relatively noise-free individually, the noise accumulates, so I ran them through a basic NR plugin that was the most challenging part of the task (aside from preparing all the note and release samples).